Bolivia charges news outlets with inciting racism

August 30, 2012 3:50 PM ET

Bogotá, August 30, 2012--Bolivian authorities must immediately drop
a criminal complaint filed against three media outlets in connection with their
coverage of a speech by President Evo Morales, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today. The news outlets are being accused of inciting racism
and discrimination, according to news reports.

The government filed charges on August 21 against local dailies El Diario and Página Siete, and Agencia de Noticias Fides (ANF), Bolivia's oldest
news agency, all based in the city of La Paz, according to news reports.
Authorities claimed the outlets' coverage distorted the president's words and sought
to create a confrontation between the eastern and western parts of the country,
news reports said.

In his August 15 speech, Morales discussed
food security in Tiahuanacao, a town in the plateau of the Andes called the
altiplano. The president said: "In the east of Bolivia, where there is
production all year round, I would say that it is only a lack of will that
makes us be poor or not have food. In the altiplano, it's different. If there
is frost, if there is no rain or if there is hail, then there is no food.
But in the east, we only go hungry because of laziness."

The president's remarks sparked protests in Santa Cruz, the
largest city in eastern Bolivia, according to news
reports. Eastern Bolivia is a wealthier area of the country and a bastion
of the political opposition, while the altiplano is made up of mostly indigenous
people who strongly support Morales.

The speech was covered by ANF, fragments of which were reprinted
in El Diario and Página Siete, which ran the headline:
"Evo accuses people in the east of being lazy."

"It is outrageous that the Bolivian government is pressing
criminal charges against El Diario, Página Siete, and ANF for merely
reporting on comments made by the president," CPJ Senior Americas Program
Coordinator Carlos Lauría said from New York. "The press should not be blamed for
a controversy initiated by the president himself. The use of racism charges
against the press may result in a chilling effect that will stifle debate on
critical issues."

Javier Baldiviezo, vice minister for governmental coordination, told
reporters that ANF's coverage was distorted and that in turn led to
inaccurate headlines in the two newspapers. Baldiviezo also said the alleged
crimes were offenses against public order and thus fell under Article 281 of
the country's criminal code, according to news reports.

Raúl Peñaranda, editor of Página
Siete, told CPJ that the specified articles invoked by the government had
been added to the criminal code as part of the 2010 Law Against Racism and All
Other Forms of Discrimination, which aims to prevent and punish acts of racism
and discrimination, but whose vague language concerned
journalists and CPJ, who feared it would be used to restrict and punish
journalism. Peñaranda told CPJ that this is the first time the law has been
used against the media.

Peñaranda told CPJ that Página
Siete had accurately reported on Morales's remarks. "This is
a lawsuit that makes no sense, and is only designed to intimidate
independent media and limit freedom of expression in the country," Peñaranda said.
He also told CPJ that media offenses were supposed to be tried under the
country's rarely used Press Law, which is part of the country's civil code.

On Thursday, members of the media in La Paz and the nearby city of
El Alto clashed with police during a march to protest the government's decision
to target ANF and the two newspapers with criminal charges, according to news
reports.

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